INTRODUCTION TO

COMPLEX SYSTEM
MB6054 Agent Based Modeling
Session 1
Consider this phenomena

Ant colony
Traffic jam
School of fish

Pick one and reflect what happen in that phenomena?

Write one piece of paper! (30 minutes)
Ant Colony

Who design and control this bridge?

Why the ant form the bridge?
Traffic Jam

What is the cause of traffic jam?

How traffic jam formed?
School of Fish

What is the behavior of school of

fish? What are they doing? Why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=dkP8NUwB2io
Type of System
Spectrum of Complexity
Far from
Agreement

Unpredictable
Predictable

Close to
Agreement
Close to Far from
Certainty Certainty
What is complex system?

Systems with a large number of interacting parts, evolving over time

Decentralized decisions vs. centralized control
Emergent global patterns from local interactions and decisions

Examples: ecosystems, economies, immune systems, molecular systems, minds,

stock market, democratic government
Emergent Phenomena

Structure (Rules) at Micro- level leads to pattern at Macro-level

Order without Design
No leader or orchestrator of pattern
Probabilistic, decentralized control -- interactions of distributed agents
(1) Characteristics of Complex Adaptive
System
1. Non-linearity
This construct means that small actions can stimulate large reactions
(otherwise known as the butterfly effect) in which highly improbable,
unpredictable and unexpected events have huge impacts.

2. Emergence
The appearance of patterns occurs due to the collective behavior
What emerges cannot be planned or intended. The whole of the
interactions becomes greater than the sum of the separate parts.

3. Dynamical systems change

Interactions within, between and among subsystems and
parts are volatile, turbulent, and cascade rapidly and
unpredictably
(2) Characteristics of Complex Adaptive
System
4. Adaptation
Interacting elements respond and adapt to each other so that what emerges
and evolves is a function of ongoing adaptation among both interacting
elements and the elements and their environment.

5. Uncertainty
Processes and outcomes are unpredictable, uncontrollable and
unknowable in advance. There is no clear idea what might happen
or how likely possible outcomes are.

6. Co-evolutionary
As interacting and adaptive agents self organize,
ongoing connections emerge that become co-
evolutionary as the agents evolve together (co-evolve)
within and as part of the whole system over time.
The road to ABM

Cellular automata
Multi-agent systems, mobile agents, etc.
ABM methodology
Cellular automata (CA)
Conways Life Game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life

Objects, computation, Self-Reproduction, evolution..

Physics in CA
Digital
Ulam, von Neumann ink

Toffoli

Fredkin
CA properties

Local
Individual based
Bottom up

But:
Homogeneous
Limited interaction patterns
Space oriented, not agent oriented
Predator-prey CA

S. Karsai
Colors code for state
But state must be composite of objects
As organized complexity increases gets complicated or homogeneity lost
Multi-agent systems (MAS)

Topics of research in MAS include:

beliefs, desires, and intentions (BDI),
cooperation and coordination,
organisation,
communication,
negotiation,
distributed problem solving,
multi-agent learning.
scientific communities
dependability and fault-tolerance
(1) ABM classifications

Do either or both of the following apply in the model?

1. The system can be decomposed into subsystems/sub-models e.g. different metabolic
pathways, signalling networks.
2. The model includes more than one level of description (this can be across both spatial and
temporal scales) e.g. some parts of the model given in terms of single molecules while other
parts given in terms of concentrations of these same molecules?
System Organisation
Can entities enter and leave the different subsystems at different times?
Entities and their Behaviour
1. Do entities show discontinuous changes in behaviour through their lifetime as part of their
development (pre-programmed rule changes) e.g. stops growing after it has reached a certain
age?
2. Do entities develop new types of behaviour/capabilities in response to certain conditions
through its lifetime
(2) ABM classifications

Entity Behaviour: Which of the following affect it at each time step?

The states of other entities in its neighbourhood or group
Global state
Local state (defined spatially)

The Role of Space and Spatio-Temporal Dynamics

1. Are there locally defined state variables that undergo evolution?
2. Do physical-spatial interactions / motion need to be modelled?
 (3) ABM classifications
Groups: Groups can be used to relate subsets of agents that interact with each other. The
precise nature of the interaction relationships between agents in the same group depend on
the model.

Organisational Metaphor with Dynamic Group Structure: In a dynamic group structure, agents
can enter and leave groups. Groups can also be dynamic in the sense that they can exist and
cease to exist at different times. The Agent-Group-Role formalism is an example of an
organisational metaphor that can cope with both dynamic groups and dynamic participation.

Situated agents: Agents are situated in some environment and are located in space. There may
be several different ways of representing this environment e.g. discrete grid, continuous
space.

Agents with pro-active behavioural rules: Agents have rules that arise from within themselves
e.g. rules governing development, random changes. These rules can also interact with
reactive rules.
AGENT-BASED MODELING
COURSE DESCRIPTION
 (1) ABM Course Description
Date Session Topic
1 Introduction to Complex System
16/5/2017
2 Introduction to Agent-Based Simulation
3 Agent-Based Simulation Research Methodology and Platform
Presentation:
23/5/2017 Why Agent-Based Modeling
4
What is Agent-Based Modeling
Creating Simple Agent-Based Model
Presentation:
Exploring and Extending Agent-Based Models
5
Creating Simple Agent-Based Models
30/5/2017 The Components of Agent-Based Modeling
Presentation:
6 Analyzing Agent-Based Models
Verification, Validation, and Replication
 (2) ABM Course Description
Date Session Topic
7 Segregation Model
6/6/2017
8 Midterm Exam
9 SugarScape Model
13/6/2017
10 Culture Dissemination Model
11 Protest Model
4/7/2017
12 Virus on a Network Model
13 Coaching of Student project
11/7/2017
14 Coaching of Student project
15 Final Exam (Student Project Presentation)
18/7/2017
16 Final Exam (Student Project Presentation)
Reading Material

Wilensky, U., & Rand, W. (2015). An

introduction to agent-based
modeling: modeling natural, social,
and engineered complex systems
with NetLogo. MIT Press.
Reading Material

Gilbert, N. (2008). Agent-based

models (No. 153). Sage.
Important Note

This class will use NetLogo software (ver. 5.3 or above). You can download it in
https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
Bring your own laptop
Presentation Group
Chapter Name
Why Agent-Based Modeling (Chapter 0) Cici, Kartika
What is Agent-Based Modeling (Chapter 1) Aeni, Prahita, Roni
Creating Simple Agent-Based Models (Chapter 2) Rizka, Yonathan
Exploring and Extending Agent-Based Models (Chapter 3) Rifa, Yana
Creating Simple Agent-Based Models (Chapter 4) Safrani, Widi, Lita
The Components of Agent-Based Modeling (Chapter 5) Ade, Nia
Analyzing Agent-Based Models (Chapter 6) Rafiati, Christina
Verification, Validation, and Replication (Chapter 7) Fatya, Ruspita
THANK YOU